Men’s Soccer: Panthers fail to overcome early deficit

Wake Forest dominated the Pitt men’s soccer team Saturday evening at Ambrose Urbanic Field. While the final score was only 2-0, Wake outshot Pitt 23-6 for the game.

“We needed to come out way better tonight,” senior captain John Cordier said. “In the first half we gave them far too much respect, and this type of performance is certainly not going to cut it at this level.”

The Panthers (0-3-2, 0-3-0 ACC) started off extremely slowly, allowing two Wake Forest (4-2-0, 3-0 ACC) goals during the opening 11 minutes.

In the eighth minute the Panthers turned the ball over because of a bad bounce off of the shin guard of redshirt sophomore midfielder Ryan Myers.

Also in the eighth minute, Wake Forest forced a turnover and parlayed it into a four-on-one. The break culminated in a Wake Forest goal when Michael Gamble received a pass from Luca Gimenez and eluded Panthers keeper Dan Lynd to score. The goal gave Wake an early 1-0 advantage, which became extended nearly four minutes later.

The second goal occurred when Gamble sent a perfect flick toward the net that went over Lynd and remained loose until Wake Forest forward Andy Lubhahn finished the scoring process.  

Just a few moments later, it seemed as though the game was going to take a bad turn when starting right back Stephane Pierre looked to be seriously injured.

During the ensuing injury timeout, Lynd called the remaining nine Panthers in a huddle for a reassuring talk.

“I just told the team to calm down out there because we looked scared for some reason,” he said. “We came in with the wrong mindset, so I just wanted them to relax because when we relax, we play much better.”

Following the huddle, the Panthers seemed to calm down, and the team played a much-improved game. Pitt sustained a stretch of decent play that culminated in its first shot on goal. The chance came 41 minutes into the match and was the lone shot attempt of the half for the Panthers.

Following the halftime break, the Panthers looked much more comfortable, as the team put together a pair of chances just five minutes apart. The best of these chances came off a corner kick by Myers, which junior defender Zane Meehan tracked and sent as a header toward the goal. The header, however, missed the net just high.

Pitt head coach Joe Luxbacher took solace in the second-half improvement.

“The second half we played much better,” Luxbacher said. “And despite the lopsided possession in favor of Wake Forest, we still had three or four good chances that we had to capitalize on. Because if you do, it’s a 2-1 game, and anything can happen.”